by Rosie Lewenstein
seen at the Orange Tree Theatre Richmond on 2 March 2019
Chelsea Walker directs Charlotte Randle as Leila and Mike Noble as John in a new play in which Leila, an ambitious and successful woman lobbying big business to recognise and take action to mitigate climate change takes up with John, a young bartender whom she meets at a conference and takes around the world with her on the proviso that he does not demand too much of her or fall in love with her.
The escalating global crisis is a constant background to the difficult relationship between Leila and John: she is used to controlling all aspects of her life in the service of her job (which she sees as extremely valuable, and hence worthy of personal sacrifice) and perhaps is therefore fearful of too intimate a relationship at an emotional level (she is more than happy with physical intimacy); he is grateful for her attention and happy to experience the whirlwind of travel on offer, but also feels shut out and to some extent used. The imbalances of the personal encounter are perhaps not so very different from the more commonly examined situation of a powerful businessman whose wife or partner is meant only to function in the 'private' or 'domestic' sphere of his life; it's unusual and refreshing to watch a play where these stereotypical gender roles are, in effect, reversed. The problems arise, as they always do, from a perhaps chronic mismatch of priorities, and are dismayingly familiar.
